Book Reviews for Book Lovers

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Jane-Anne Hobbs

Creating memorable meals for the people you love is the author’s aim, and she writes about honest food, cooked with love, generosity and an open heart: beautiful words, but do they meet my expectation? Yes! This book has a wide range of recipes, from Thai and Middle Eastern to Italian and typically South African, with good vegetarian options.

Hobbs mixes old-fashioned recipes and gives them a modern twist, like onion soup with a mustard and cheese soufflé topping or lamb curry with coriander gremolata. Or she transforms a Caprese salad into a hot Caprese tart.

My favourite one is the white gazpacho with tomato granita. This cold soup is served in a bowl made of ice. Hobbs describes step by step how to make such a bowl. I have been looking for an unusual conversation piece at the dinner table and this will be the one.

She explains each recipe with precision: ‘one slice of lemon, no more’ and most of the ingredients are easily available. Hobbs started Scrumptious as a food blog and maybe that experience has made this cookbook so successful.

The photographs are also beautiful and inspiring. If only each recipe had a picture, the book would have been perfect.